It is great fun to discover new recipes only because some random ingredient was hanging around and needed using up! Today, the target was pepitas, roasted pumpkin seeds. For situations like this, my favorite resources are: The reliable Epicurious despite its less-than-modern search capabilities The multi-ingredient useful FoodieView which could be still more useful were its feeds to include more than 2 or 3 food blogs So after considering everything from fish crusts to pepita brittle, I settled on this quick bread. It's a good way to use up pepitas -- today's were hulled from Trader Joe's but you can make your own, too, as Elise has here at Simply Recipes . That said, I wouldn't buy pepitas special for making pumpkin bread and thus this recipe won't replace my long-time favorite , especially since the pepitas really add to the calorie count. VEGETABLE RECIPES from the ARCHIVES ~ more pumpkin recipes ~ PUMPKIN PEPITA BREAD Hands-on time: 20 minu...

How to Cook Fresh Broccoli in the Microwave with Perfect Results Every Time I know, I know. Life's busy. Who has time to "cook" a vegetable for dinner? I do! And you do too! Cooking broccoli in the microwave is fast, easy and really, who needs a recipe?! It's just a simple technique, try it once and you'll never need anything more than a quick reminder again. Real Food, Fast & Casual. Year-Round Kitchen Staple. Weeknight Easy. Great for Meal Prep. Low Carb. Low Fat. Weight Watchers Friendly. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real . Naturally Gluten Free. Whole30 Friendly.

When the oven's already on for something else, it just feels good to roast some vegetables at the same time, even if they're not on the night's menu. Tonight I tried roasting the beets with a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, the new favorite technique over at The Amateur Gourmet . Adam wraps the beets in foil. I wrapped two, then decided that foil wasn't so efficient for the remaining five beets so arranged them in a single layer in a covered casserole dish and roasted them side-by-side. Both turned out great! And the balsamic vinegar is an inspired addition. Oven temperature is always a question. The Amateur Gourmet roasts his at 400F for an hour. I did a little math and thought that at 375F, the beets'd be done in 65 minutes. Nope. It took 90 minutes for both those wrapped in foil and the ones in the casserole. Are there temperature/time conversion techniques that actually work? UPDATE: I've learned that it really isn't predictable how lon...

Winter and Spring and Summer may have their soups. But Fall? Fall is the Real Soup Season! This week's Kitchen Parade column features a long-time favorite, a wild rice soup creamed with parsnip and potato and perfect for chilly days.

'The Minimalist' Mark Bittman was in St Louis last night to promote his new book, The Best Recipes in the World , another tome of 700+ pages like his bestselling and my oft-cooked- from How to Cook Everything . It was a small group of foodies gathered round, not a bite in sight, but I found him funny, cerebral and real, the kind of person you'd love to share a table with, even if he knew not one whit about food! My thoughts on the new book after scanning maybe 100 pages, yes, in the vegetable section: If you like How to Cook Everything and the Wednesday columns in the New York Times, you'll likely appreciate the new book too It's classic Minimalist style with short ingredient lists and shortcut techniques It's packed with substitution ideas -- this is also hallmark Minimalist and last night he quoted Jacques Pepin about kitchen artistry, 'You never step in the same river twice' The recipes seem somewhat adventurous but not the least bit 'w...

Today three Moms wrote of (surprising!) success getting vegetables into their little ones: Meg of Too Many Chefs made kid- and parent-friendly (if a tad messy for toddlers) zucchini muffins Alysha from The Savory Notebook first had luck with a canned vegetable soup and decided to brave a vegetable soup with pesto Sweetnicks ' Nick gobbled up a Rachael Ray spinach salad VEGGIES for KIDS is a continuing crusade here at A Veggie Venture, a forum for parents wanting to encourage healthful eating habits at home and school. What works for you? What would you like to fix at your own table? Leave a comment, send an e-mail or write your own post -- ideas and links along with kid-tested recipes will be posted in Veggies for Kids .

My favorite standby lunch, year-round, with any luck, the inspiration to help readers discover their own low-point standby lunch. ~recipe & photo updated 2010~ 2005: If you're wondering, yes, those are canned beans! But please, keep reading. Canned beans are not required! When there's a big supper on the calendar, this is my standard eat-at-my-desk lunch. It racks up a grand total of 1 Weight Watchers point (that's about 5% of a day's calories) but is still very filling and very satisfying . (If I'm having hunger pains before going out, I might fix another. The point is to fill up -- with volume and fiber -- without wasting the wonderful calories that'll be so enjoyed later on ! I fix the same salad at five o'clock to avoid overeating at a happy hour. Or if I've had a big lunch out but still want to nosh for supper. Or if I'm just too full from too much and too-rich food over a few days. Or just because it's easy and fast and healthful. Eve...

Today's vegetable recipe: How to roast a butternut squash, cut in half and roasted cut-side down. ~recipe & photo updated & reposted 2012~ ~ more recently updated recipes ~ 2005 Original Post: Lots of squash a-cookin' here! Here is my number one tip for roasting winter squash, make good use of the oven and dishwasher by cooking two, not one, butternut squash at a time. In the Recipe Box, recipes calling for pre-cooked squash are marked with a Watch for recipes calling for cooked squash, marked with this , watch for it. Tonight's culinary question is what made two squash turn out so very different? I'm stymied about what might be the source of the differences, if anyone cares to chime in! Both butternut squash were purchased on the same day from the same bin and had been stored the same, on the counter looking all healthful and fall-wholesome. Both had the same appearance on the outside. But my goodness, once split open, what a difference:

It was supposed to bake for 20 minutes. It took nearly an hour. It was supposed to rise up in an airy pillow . It was more like a favorite old feather-flattened pillow . (Though hey, it DID deflate so maybe it was better than apparent?) Sounds like a failure, yes? No way, even if timing and aesthetics were less than ideal. This broccoli soufflé, my first soufflé ever, was absolutely honest-to-goodness spoon-lickin' delicious and I can't wait for the opportunity to perfect the technique. Thanks to Kitchen Chick for hosting Is My Blog Burning , another online food event, this one featuring cooks from all over the world worry-watching their ovens for the oh-so-desirable soufflé poof . There are many other first-time soufflérs in the event, most who experienced great success. My thoughts/tips on what might have gone wrong with mine are included below but the other posts are well worth reviewing. BROCCOLI SOUFFLÉ Hands-on time: maybe 45 minutes...

With so many delicious-sounding and -looking squash soup recipes popping up on food blogs, I had to try one too. But instead I took a shortcut and picked this up this package at Trader Joe's for some moment when a cupful of soup was needed in a minute flat . And it was good enough though to my taste, not as good as the creamy corn version from Day 153 nor even half so good as this Squash & Pear Soup . BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP Hands-on time: 2 minutes Time to table: 2 minutes Serves 2 Pour a half cup soup into two small microwave-safe dishes and warm, separately, in the microwave for one minute apiece. Top with croutons or toasted pumpkin seeds or sour cream if you're feelin' fancy. NUTRITION ESTIMATE Per cup, 90 calories, 2 grams fat, 16 grams carb, 3 grams fiber, Weight Watchers 1 point

I began blogging about vegetables way back in 2005 and somehow, over the years, collected several different recipes for steaming broccoli. Who needs that?! What we all want is one, simple, definitive source so that's what I've done, consolidating everything you need to know about steamed broccoli, all in one place. Here you go! There's a new location, please see How To Steam Broccoli (Step-by-Step Photos) Looking for healthy new ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of super-organized quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables . Join " veggie evangelist " Alanna Kellogg to explore the exciting world of common and not-so-common vegetables, seasonal to staples, savory to sweet, salads to sides, soups to supper, simple to special. © Copyright Kitchen Parade 2005 & 2021 (retired)

It's about time! FINALLY we can turn on the oven without first turning on the air. So set that oven to 350F and mix up a batch of the Mocha Morsels featured in this week's Kitchen Parade column.

When you write about vegetables, some times it takes an extra cup of creativity to participate in the dessert-loving food event Sugar High Friday, this month hosted by Lovescool and featuring chocolate. But chocolate turned out to be easy. Choices included: ... chocolate & zucchini , a 1960s cake combination made famous long before the popular Parisian blog adopted the moniker ... chocolate & carrot , usually in otherwise-traditional carrot cakes ... chocolate & sweet potato , in Southern-style sweet potato pies But this chocolate and vegetable pair is new to me, chocolate and ... chocolate and ... think ... think ... think ... hint: think root vegetable ... hint: think RED root vegetable ... think .... think .... think beets. BEETS? Yes, beets! And the cake tasted quite good though it was not especially 'interesting' taste-wise since the beets seem to add structure and sweetness and a hint of color but little taste. Still, it's an easy and ...

St Louis is one grand sports town for fans, owners and players alike. We love our Rams and we love our Blues. But more than anything, we love our Cardinals and the tradition of redbird baseball . (This is a food post, promise! Read on!) Tonight, the Cardinals played the Astros in Game 6 for the National League Championship title. We lost 5-1, making tonight's the last game of the season, the last game at forty-season Busch Stadium and the last game broadcast by signal-strong KMOX that made the Cardinals the hometown team in at least ten states. (This morning's paper says it well , the emotion, the pride, the disappointment.) So the game was lost. It won't comfort the sports-only folks but foodies, know this: At least the pizza was good! For the crust, I used a new Boboli product , a whole wheat thin- cardboard , I mean, thin-crust. (Next time I'll perfect the crust technique first tried here .) I also do NOT appreciate how Boboli is making it difficult to compa...

How to cook fresh Brussels sprouts with lemon and Parmesan flavors, a simple, no-recipe-required recipe. Just cook first by steaming or boiling, then soak for 15 minutes in lemon juice and grated Parmesan . LOL they won't win any beauty contests but what they lack in the looks department, they make up for as an easy make-ahead side dish. Fresh Vegetables, Fast & Healthy. Just Three Ingredients! An Easy Side for Weeknight Suppers. Budget Friendly. Great for Meal Prep. Low Carb. Low Fat. Weight Watchers Friendly. Vegetarian. Naturally Gluten Free.

How to cook a sweet potato in the microwave. It's quick-quick and easy, whether for a fast at-home or office-kitchen lunch or a vegetable for supper. This recipe has moved, please see Delicious Microwave Sweet Potato . Waaay back in 2005, I experimented with one of those microwave-able sweet potatoes, all clean and wrapped in plastic. It was a hot, tasty, healthful food that moved from the fridge to microwave to the table in a matter of 10 minutes. But here's the thing. You don't need some special microwave-able sweet potato "product". You just need a whole sweet potato and a microwave! So check out the new recipe for microwaving a standard sweet potato, Delicious Microwave Sweet Potato . It's just as easy, just as fast and wayyyy cheaper. Looking for healthy new ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of super-organized quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables...

Creamed spinach is such a favorite vegetable side dish! But my recipe for Creamed Spinach is not the "heart attack on a plate" that you find at a steak house. In fact, let's just go ahead and be honest: my recipe is for healthy creamed spinach, heavy on the spinach, low in fat and still absolutely delicious. It's more "spinachy" than "creamy" which to my taste, means it's perfectly balanced. So for those of us who adore spinach and other bitter greens, put this recipe high on your "make asap" list! Year-Round Kitchen Staple. Great for Meal Prep. Low Carb. Low Fat. Weight Watchers Friendly & Freestyle Friendly. Vegetarian. In our home, Healthy Creamed Spinach is a such long-time favorite recipe, one served in all four seasons, on weeknights and weekends, for kids and grown-ups, for just-family and company alike. Gosh, I love this recipe! One year, I even made Creamed Spinach four times in two weeks, twice with fresh spinach and ...

This broccoli/fennel combination is good -- not roll your eyes and moan out loud good but everyday good. The fennel adds subtle verve -- plus, it's an excellent way to use up fennel bulbs that tend to linger in the vegetable bin. The original recipe called for a red pepper (and I used what was on hand, a yellow one) which did "veg up" the dish (for example, to serve more people) and "use up" a pepper that needed attention. But it also wasn't that interesting and seemed a gratuitous addition of color -- so next time, unless I need to veg up or use up, I'll skip the pepper. VEGETABLE RECIPES from the ARCHIVES ~ more fennel recipes ~ BROCCOLI with FENNEL Hands-on time: 15 minutes Time to table: 25 minutes (requires occasional attention during last 10 minutes) Serves 4 1 tablespoon olive oil (reduced from 4 tablespoons) 1 teaspoon fennel seeds 1 bulb fennel, finely chopped 1 small onion, finely chopped 1 red pepper, finely chopped (next...

Kitchen Parade's weekly column continues its new series featuring Quick Suppers where the fare is fast and healthful. Here's a great dish for fall, Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic Cranberry Sauce .

There's something clever about a can of Campbell's. "Mix soup + 1 can water" and "for creamier soup, use 1 can milk." Ah, so simple. By good luck vs good design, tonight's soup seems perfect for Day 182 (!) here on A Veggie Venture, the halfway point in what's likely a full-year odyssey. It's as simple as a can of Campbell's, after, that is, the tomatoes spend 12 hours in the oven. Slow-Roasted Tomatoes are a 2006 idea for Northern Hemispherers but for anyone in what are now spring-and-soon-summer-climes, I've got a freezerful and hope to tempt you all (my) winter with ways to use them! SLOW-ROASTED TOMATO SOUP Hands-on time: 5 minutes Time to table: 10 minutes Serves 1 1 cup slow-roasted tomatoes 1 cup skim milk Salt and pepper to taste Mix tomatoes + milk. Warm on stovetop but do not allow to boil. If desired, puree with an immersion blender. Season to taste.

CALL FOR HELP! I'm stymied by calorie-dense desserts for people with dietary restrictions. No dairy so no cream. No animal products so no egg. No refined sugar or flour so no, well, no sugar or flour though honey, maple syrup and whole-grain flours and whole grains are okay. It's like vegan on steroids. What DO you make? This is more than a casual question. I'm cooking for a neighbor who's ill and on a much-restricted diet. Mostly I'm happy to experiment and learn along the way. But in this instance, I'd rather not, I'd rather have tried-and-true-and-tested great results. Comments are fine. Or my e-mail address is on the right. In advance, many thanks. If you have ideas or sources (and in a perfect world, recipes) I'd much appreciate it. THE MOUSSE Perhaps it was eight years of not eating meat. If I weren't going to eat meat, I saw no reason for meat substitutes. Even now, I enjoy the occasional veggie burger but in its own right not ...

Today's fall tradition, a golden bowl of butternut squash soup, here slightly sweet (but not too fruity) with puréed pear, warmed with curry (but not spicy hot! I promise!) and almost creamy with coconut (but not coconut-y). When made with vegetable stock, not just vegan, " Vegan Done Real ". ~recipe updated & republished for a little weekend cooking inspiration~ ~ more recently updated recipes ~ WAY BACK IN 2005 Mmm, mmmm, good. This is the second week cooking for a neighbor sick with cancer and his wife: comfort food for him, a reprieve for her. Last week the objective was lots of calories. As happens in these situations, however, this is a new week and the new alternative medicine doctor has prescribed what I think would be called a macrobiotic diet. No meat, no fish, no dairy. No refined flour or sugar. So vegetables and fruits and grains are the order of the day – yet he still needs dense calories because his appetite is diminished. It's a challenge, cook...

Isn't there a children's rhyme about honey and vinegar? Something's nagging the back of my brain ... No matter, this is a great weeknight supper recipe! Invest a few minutes up front (and do take the couple of minutes to peel real carrots -- the prepeeled ones from bags just have no flavor when cooked) and then the carrots almost cook on their own while you work on whatever else's on the menu. The inspiration for these came from -- get this! -- a little recipe booklet hanging off a vinegar bottle. It's been hanging around for a few weeks. Tonight I put my foot down and said, Cook 'em or throw it away. It was worth the wait! Find other carrot recipes in the Recipe Box . CARROTS with HONEY & VINEGAR Hands-on time: 7 minutes Time to table: 35 minutes Serves 4 1/2 cup water or fat-free chicken broth (have more available if needed) 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (I think any vinegar'd work fine) 1 tablespoon honey 1 teaspoon butter 1 pound ...

Add this to a growing list of great ways to cook greens (and look at those gorgeous stems, too!) without fat. Here the magic flavor ingredient is mustard. The inspiration came from My Adventures in the Breadbox (2007: a now-defunct food blog) who last week served kale alongside pork tenderloin. GREENS & STEMS with MUSTARD Hands-on time: 15 minutes (mostly for cleaning which can be done ahead) Time to table: 20 minutes Serves 4 1/2 cup (or more but start with 1/4 cup) fat-free chicken broth Greens and stems, about 1 1/2 pounds (tonight, used the greens from 4 beets and the stems from 2, think that's about the right proportion) 1 large shallot, chopped 2 tablespoons good mustard Salt & pepper to taste Heat the a large, deep skillet. Add about 1/4 cup of the broth just before adding the first stems. Rinse and remove the stems, chop into small pieces and add to the skillet. Cook the stems while rinsing and chopping the leaves. Add the shallot and the mustard an...

This week, Kitchen Parade's weekly column launches a new series called Quick Suppers where the fare will be fast and a whole lot more, er, less. We kick off with a grilled or pan-fried Spiced Yogurt Chicken .

Today's Soup Recipe: An ultra-rich tomato soup, laced with butter and orange juice. ~ recipe & photo updated in 2008 ~ 2005: My oh my. This may be the most delicious soup ever, at least within memory. The tomato is comfortably familiar. The orange is a subtle surprise but still recognizable. Combined, you'll wonder, why didn't we do this before? Made with an entire stick of butter and cream to boot, it's packed with calories and thus perfect comfort food for a neighbor who needs calories to fight a fast-moving cancer. It would also make a lovely starter - small portions! - at a dinner party. Or for every-day, save calories to savor a whole bowl. (Thought: Perhaps there's a lower-calorie version to be had by adding orange juice to Summer's Tomato Soup ?) The soup's inspiration comes from a [2008: now defunct] blog Taste Everything Once. Jenn was in the middle of moving and unpacked her soup pot at 5 in the morning just to make this! She thought it w...

Since the weekend, the frig has been home to an overflowing bag of sweet peppers purchased for a quarter apiece at Soulard, St. Louis' year-round farmers market. Yes: you read right. A quarter a pepper. The supermarket price is $1.50 a pepper, six times higher. So the Simple Summer Harvest Soup over at Farmgirl Fare caught my attention again. Thanks to what was on hand, however, Farmgirl's soup and mine are a bit different: Hers was a 50:50 mix of sweet pepper and summer squash, mine 75:25 sweet pepper and zucchini. She recommends homemade chicken stock and I do too. But with none in the freezer, I used a pantry staple, the 48-ounce can of Swanson's 100% Fat Free Natural Goodness. It's not comparable but certainly 'good enough'. Farmgirl says this soup's flavor melds after resting a day. I was in a rush serving-wise, so spiked the flavor with 2 tablespoons of adobo sauce - making for heat that not everyone would appreciate but was easily cooled dow...

Despite the other night's experience , greens can taste soooo good. (See? It pays to keep trying!) Here's a terrific example. Easy. Fast. A little prep and then virtually no hands-on time. And thanks to a new technique happened onto while cooking something else, low carb, no fat and no points! This one's a keeper, one to turn to again and again. [If you like nutmeg, try last month's Nutmeg Carrots . Or for other recipes with ever-healthful greens, see Leafy Greens in the Recipe Box .] SPINACH with NUTMEG Hands-on time: 5 minutes Time to table: 15 minutes Serves 4 About 1/2 cup good chicken broth 1 onion, sliced or diced (tonight I did strips, next time I'll dice) 1 yellow pepper, sliced or diced (ditto) 1 heaping teaspoon garlic (from a jar, hey! it's a weeknight!) 16 ounces fresh spinach Salt & pepper Fresh nutmeg Heat a splash of chicken broth in a large, deep skillet on MEDIUM HIGH. When it starts to simmer, add the onion and pepper...

A savory noodle casserole (also called a "noodle kugel") made with fresh spinach, flat noodles, sour cream and cheese, extra delicious served hot from the oven. Savory Spinach Kugel is super simple to make and would be easy to scale up to serve a crowd. Fresh & Seasonal. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special. Scales from Small Casserole to a Large Baking Dish. Vegetarian.

After oh-so-many successful batches of Slow-Roasted Tomatoes , I began to wonder if the same wonderful sweet-roasted flavor might be achieved at a higher temperature. My conclusion: It can't. I consulted reliable sources for combinations of temperature and time, ranging from 350F to 500F and 20 minutes to 45 minutes. I settled on 400F and starting slicing. These are the Kitchen Notes: Batch 13: 400F, 25minutes. Face down on 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper, fennel. Yielded 3 cups tomato PLUS 1 1/2 cups liquid (see the picture) so MUST use rimmed baking sheet. Think liquid is result of high temperature with tomatoes face down. Took 30 minutes til cool enough to handle. More like stewed tomatoes. Okay but nothing close to slow-roasted. Batch 14: 400F, 90 minutes (I think). Face up, misted with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, fennel. No standing juice but yield only 1 1/2 cups. Some burned spots on skins and pan. Took 30 minutes to cool. Flavor less like...

Aren't these the prettiest little muffins? Thanks to CookSister , a South African living in the UK, I knew just what to do with something new that showed up at the local supermarket recently, peppadews, a part tomato / part pepper indigenous to the Eastern Cape of South Africa. I was intrigued by the peppadews themselves but also by a muffin with half the 'standard' amount of fat. For all their prettiness and relative healthfulness, the taste testers found these a bit floury and at least to one palate, 'too spicy'. (They are good warm and doused in butter!) Destined for picnic sandwiches, these were made in giant muffin tins. The picnic didn't happen but I do think these muffins would be great that way, with ham or turkey or something slightly salty tucked inside with a little mayo, lettuce, tomato, even cheese. PEPPADEW MUFFINS CookSister's Recipe and Notes (including metric measurements, fyi you may have to scroll down aways) Hands-on time: 15...

I started to call these Yucky Greens. Or Inedible Greens. Or If-You-Want-to-Hate -Greens-Then-Just-Try-These-Greens. The promise was remarkable. The greens were glorious, just-plucked slick mustard greens from my favorite stand at Soulard Market, St Louis' middle-of-the-city farmers market. The remaining ingredients were simple, nothing more than garlic and lemon juice and honey, a tiny bite of red pepper flake fire. The recipe source was reliable, Alton Brown's Good Eats. The results were, well, awful. I chawed my way through a few bites, then tipped the whole thing into a freezer container to add, in very small doses, to soup and stock later on, where maybe, just maybe, its very existence will be redeemed. [There are, however, several great greens recipes here . And for the record, does anyone know? Are 'slick' mustard greens different than regular mustard greens? Might that have been the issue?] LEMON SESAME GLAZED GREENS Hands-on time: 10 minutes Time ...